Key points from Trump's State of the Union address

Trump is calling for national unity, strong borders and a powerful US military to repel threats to America

Afp January 31, 2018

U.S. President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S. January 30, 2018. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

WASHINGTON DC: President Donald Trump delivered his maiden State of the Union address on Tuesday, calling for national unity, strong borders and a powerful US military to repel threats to America.

Here are some key points from the speech:

Trump - one of most divisive and controversial presidents in US history - sought to highlight things that Americans share, and appealed to the power of unity: "All of us, together, as one team, one people, and one American family can do anything."

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Trump said the time has come to "rebuild our crumbling infrastructure," calling on Congress to draft legislation that "generates at least $1.5 trillion for the new infrastructure investment that our country so desperately needs."

"We will build gleaming new roads, bridges, highways, railways, and waterways all across our land," he said.

Taxes have been slashed, "the stock market has smashed one record after another" and companies and jobs are coming back to America, Trump said.

"For many years, companies and jobs were only leaving us. But now they are roaring back, they're coming back, they wanna be where the action is," he said.

Current immigration policies allow "drugs and gangs" to pour into the country and facilitated recent extremist attacks, Trump said, reiterating his four-pillar plan for immigration reform and calling on Congress to take action.

"It's time to reform these outdated immigration rules, and finally bring our immigration system into the 21st century," Trump said.

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China and Russia are economic rivals who challenge US interests and values, and North Korean missiles "could very soon threaten our homeland," Trump said.

The solution? "Unmatched power," which he said "is the surest means to our true and great defense."

Trump also called for Congress to authorise "all necessary power" for the US to detain "terrorists" captured abroad, and for the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay to be kept open.